The present invention relates to adjustable weight lifting and exercise apparatus.
The present invention also relates to multi-functional adjustable weight lifting and exercise apparatus.
The present invention further relates to a multi-functional adjustable weight lifting and exercise apparatus, which also allows for the achievement of fully adjustable, discrete decline and incline, operator support platform positions.
The present invention more particularly relates to a multi-functional weight lifting and exercise apparatus, which also allows for adjustable decline and incine positions, which readily permits user access to barbell weights supported on adjustable height, weight support means.
The unique support platform decline position, obtainable with concurrent proper user access to barbell weights, supported on adjustable height weight support means, is accomplished primarily by the coordinated combination of a fully adjustable operator support platform sliding means, support platform hinge means, as well as a fully adjustable and removable back height position bar.
The prior art has shown various types of weight lifting benches, which have been commercially available for years. The basic operative features, include a bench frame supporting a platform, with two vertically oriented barbell weight supports, disposed at one end of the bench frame. At rest, the barbell weights are supported in a position above the supine body of the user. The user extends both arms vertically, grasps the barbell, and pushes the weights off the weight support rack to a full arm extension, in, what is known as a barbell bench press. By alternately lowering the barbells to the chest, and raising the weights once again to arms length, the desired number of barbell bench press repetitions, can be achieved.
The prior art devices have lacked the necessary versatility and performance modes for the serious power weight lifter, so that modifications were made, which ultimately transformed this essentially one-dimensional invention, into the multi-functional units available today. The modern prior art devices, generally include configurations to perform not only the standard bench press movements, as described above, but also a number of other specific exercises. Among those, is the means to do weight-enhanced leg extension exercises, i.e., leg curls, wherein the user sits at one end of the bench, inserts both feet under a padded weight support apparatus, attached to the foot end of the device, and alternately pivots the feet in a vertical up and down motion.
Other exercises, which the modern prior art devices have tried to accommodate, include arm contractions, i.e., arm curls, which the user accomplishes by sitting erect, or in an incline position, and by alternately extending and contracting hand-held weights, i.e., barbells or dumb bells, in repetitive downward and upward movements. A final exercise, which requires the use of the weight lifting bench, is a leg-intensive exercise, commonly known as a squat. Here, the user assumes a standing position directly behind the "head end" of the bench, in the center of upright barbell weight support racks. The user then removes the barbell weights from the weight support cradles, and rests the weights on their shoulders. The user then bends at the knees until a contracted, or "squat" position, is achieved, followed by an immediate straightening of the legs, until the user is back to a normal standing position. Following the completion of the desired number of repetitions, the user then removes the barbells from their shoulders, and places them back on the barbell weight support cradles.
Evolution of the athletic training discipline, has established that the user can obtain superior results, if additional stress was applied to the body during performance of the various weight utilizing exercises. As one means used to accomplish this, the prior art devices sought to incline the back portion of the bench, with the head elevated above the waist, so as to impose additional stress during the standard bench press work out on the upper torso and shoulder area.
Serious power weight lifters, however, have expressed a desire for a weight lifting apparatus, comprising a means whereby the back portion of the bench could be fully declined in a position towards the barbell weight support racks, with the head below the waist, so that a much more intensive variation of the standard, or inclined bench press, could be performed.
However, attempts by the prior art devices to successfully implement a means for the full decline configuration, have heretofore been unsatisfactory. In fact, due to a prior art common problem, which the present invention has solved, previous devices could not provide a means by which the bench support platform could be readily fully declined, so that the head was below the waist level, while at the same time allowing full and unobstructed access to weights, on a barbell weight support rack. The prior art devices, could only provide for limited user access to the barbell weights, when the bench portion was in the inclined configuration. The apparatus design, inherent in the prior art devices, resulted in a fixed support platform back position, oriented horizontally between the weight support rack uprights, and generally at the waist level of the user. The configuration of the prior art design, prevented a decline bench position, with the head below the waist, and further limited convenient user access to the barbell weights, when the bench was configured in the incline position.
In the present invention, however, the full decline support platform position can be achieved, without any obstruction to user access to barbell weights, so that the user can engage in any form of decline or incline bench press exercise with complete safety, by the coordination of an adjustable seat-back support platform sliding means, incorporating a unique support platform hinge means, and a fully adjustable and removable back height position bar.
The present design also allows for the discrete support platform back component, to be inclined or declined, from a zero degree horizontal longitudinal position, to a plurality of configurations, throughout the full range of incline and decline positions.
Furthermore, the discrete back and discrete seat components of the operator support platform, are hinged to a single common hinge means, and yet may be pivoted fully independently of each other. This design capability, permits the user, for example, to configure the discrete back-seat components, so that bent-hip leg curl extensions can be performed, a capability not found in the prior art devices.
The present invention also embodies a superior design, which facilitates proper form for barbell-employed squat exercises. In the prior art devices, the fixed back support designs, discussed above, also presented a stationary obstacle to the proper execution of barbell squats, which often resulted in injury to the exposed shin area of the user.
The present invention solves this problem with a unique design, allowing for the rapid and convenient removal and insertion of the adjustable back height position bar. When the back height position bar is fully removed, the user can now also "walk through" the region enclosed by the barbell weight support means, to a position directly beneath the supported barbell weights. This position allows the user to perform squat exercises with the proper form, thereby reducing or eliminating the risk of user back or shin injury.
In comparison with the limited design capabilities of the prior art devices, the innovative features of the present invention, clearly show a weight lifting and exercise device, that is fully adjustable, throughout its entire range of weight-utilizing, exercise configurations.